Throughout her career, Reed has pursued projects across artistic venues. As a filmmaker, Reed's work has been featured at festivals and across platforms. Her most recent project is the film Dark Money which, "examines one of the greatest present threats to American democracy: the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections and elected officials." Earlier work has explored LGBT issues, families, and the transgender community in New York City. Reed also wrote an opera and her written work has been featured in a number of print publications and other forums.
Film
''Dark Money''
Dark Money premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. Variety describes the film as a "potent investigative piece." In early 2018 the film traveled to several festivals and the rights to the film were purchased by PBS and will be broadcast in fall 2018 as part of the POV series of documentaries. Dark Money is Kimberly Reed's sophomore documentary and explores the influence on dark money in Montana politics and beyond post-Citizens United.
''Prodigal Sons''
Prodigal Sons is an autobiographical account of Kimberly Reed's return home to Montana for her 20th high school reunion as a trans woman. The film evolves into an exploration of family, sibling rivalry, coming out, and reconciling with the past. It debuted at the Telluride Film Festival in 2008. The Los Angeles Times describes Prodigal Sons as follows:
"At the heart of 'Prodigal Sons,' a family drama in the form of a succinct, eloquent personal journal, is a sibling rivalry whose reverberations touch upon the very essence of human identity: what we inherit, what we learn, how we move forward and to what degree we look back. Reed receives a warm reception at her 20-year reunion, but she's on eggshells with one of her classmates, her adopted brother. Since he was left back in preschool, Marc has been the struggler to her high achiever, his behavior problems exacerbated by a brain injury. He's on multiple meds and given to hair-trigger explosions that he says aren't the real him -- even as Kim looks at pictures of herself as a boy and says with certainty, 'That wasn't me."'"
Reed's work on this project earned her much acclaim including a place on Filmmaker Magazine's list of "25 New Faces of Independent Film," several award nominations including a GLAAD Media Award and . The film was met with both popular and critical acclaim. It was released in theaters and was among IndieWire's top 10 films of 2008.
Other projects
Appearing as herself, Reed was a character in the documentary Film Hawk in 2017. A film about the life of Bob Hawk, tracing his early years as the gay child of a Methodist minister to his current career as a consultant on some of the most influential independent films of our time.
Reed was a contributing author to the edited volumeHere Come the Brides!, a look at how marriage has changed and includes the stories of women who are challenged the collective cultural interpretations of its meaning. Previously, Kimberly Reed was editor-in-chief of, Digital Video Magazine, the largest magazine covering the digital revolution in film making.
Public appearances and activism
Perhaps her widest audience to date was on The Oprah Winfrey Show where she discussed her journey as a transgender woman, coming out, and the making of Prodigal Sons.
Rick Moody wrote about Kimberly's story and her work on Prodigal Sons for Details Magazine in 2009. His review of the film for Magnet Magazine was one of the publication's picks for its best of 2009 list.
Kimberly Reed's story was among those included in Andrew Solomon's book, Far From the Tree which explores the challenges that parents face in having extraordinary children and grapples with the idea that experiences of difference are universal.
"A woman confronts her past, and future, when she is forced to make a trip to her hometown. Kimberly Reed's story continues in her film Prodigal Sons, which won more than a dozen awards and appeared on many Best Films of The Year lists."
After the acclaim of Prodigal Sons, Kimberly Reed was invited to again to return to her high school in Helena to deliver the .
Awards
Reed has been recognized for her work in a number of ways. Awards and honors include:
